The water evaporation knowledge base
Understand water evaporation — and every practical way to reduce it.
A neutral, cited reference for engineers, water managers, farmers and policymakers: the physics, how to calculate it, its real-world impacts, and a fair comparison of every reduction method — from natural techniques to competing commercial products.
Open water is leaking into the sky
Reservoirs, ponds, irrigation storages and industrial basins lose vast volumes of water to evaporation every year — water that has already been captured, paid for and, often, treated. In arid regions a substantial share of stored water can evaporate annually, and a meaningful fraction of that loss happens at night.
This site explains why it happens, how to estimate it, and how the full range of suppression methods actually compare — honestly, with sources.
6
dominant factors drive the rate
25–40%
of daily loss can occur at night (arid climates)
±10–20%
typical agreement between calculation methods
9+
distinct reduction method classes compared
Start here
The science
What is evaporation?
The physics of the vapour-pressure deficit, the six factors that drive the rate, why depth doesn't change it, and how it's measured.
The methods
How to calculate it
Pan, energy-budget, mass-transfer, Penman-Monteith, Priestley-Taylor and Hargreaves-Samani — with a quick on-site estimator.
The solutions
Methods to reduce it
Natural, chemical and physical methods compared fairly on effectiveness, cost, access, durability and limitations.
The literature
Research library
A cited, continually-updated index of peer-reviewed studies, reviews, datasets and standards — filterable by method, type and year.
The market
Technology landscape
A neutral, alphabetical scan of vendors and technologies across every reduction method class.
Working in a specific climate? See the guides by climate, or estimate the payback of a method on the cost-benefit page.
Latest research
RSS ↗The newest publications we've indexed on evaporation suppression.
- 2026 · Modeling Earth Systems and Environment Applications of machine learning in enhancing evaporation estimation for small reservoirs: a case study in semi-arid South Texas
- 2026 · Physics and Chemistry of the Earth Parts A/B/C A novel hybrid EMD-RF-LSTM model with wavelet-based feature selection for monthly evaporation simulation in SMBA dam Reservoir-Algeria
- 2026 · PLoS ONE Experimental investigation of water-saving efficiency using hexagonal diamond-shaped floating covers in large-scale evaporation ponds under static water conditions
- 2026 · Journal of Hydrology Regional Studies Combined evaporation estimation model of upper and lower reservoirs of pumped storage plants in arid areas under floating coverage
Common questions
How much water can evaporate from an open reservoir?
What is the most effective way to reduce reservoir evaporation?
Do floating covers help with algae as well as evaporation?
Go deeper in the Knowledge Hub
Evergreen explainers and current developments in water conservation and evaporation research — each connected to the underlying science.